The United States- The World's Biggest Banana Republic

 This week was one for the ages.

The Michigan State Police confirmed that hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots, a conspiracy in the swing states, was not only caught on video and investigated- Michigan did nothing and the FBI did nothing. This video amazingly coincides with the 3 a.m. miraculous election of Joe Biden in 2020 who was losing and then suddenly pulled a Presidency out of a hat.

Via the Gateway Pundit, you will likely not see this anywhere mainstream. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/now-we-have-proof-tgp-exclusive-massive-2020/

The Biden family was paid over 20 million dollars by Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstan nationals while Joe was the VP. Funny now that Biden and the democrats have been sponsoring the Ukrainian war with US tax dollars after receiving bribes in the millions. This while Obama was President. What did he know? 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/foreigners-paid-more-than-20-million-to-biden-family-associates-bank-records-5453849

The J6 committee lost pertinent records regarding the "insurrection" staged on Jan 6 following the sham election of Joe Biden. Conservatives would have called this event a demonstration although the DC police did manage to murder un armed Ashli Babbitt which certainly takes the shine from a demonstration. The event likely would not have occurred in the first place if democrats hadn't managed to steal the election or if Nancy Pelosi would have agreed to provide National Guard protection for the event. Hint* she decided against it much like Hillary giving aid to Christopher Stevens.

https://beckernews.com/j6-committee-cover-up-house-dems-wiped-records-on-security-failures-scrubbed-communications-with-biden-white-house-51414/

The indictments for Donald Trump exercising free speech just keep coming. All in all it is a black liberal sweep. Every prosecutor is black (one judge) and they are all flaming liberals. Fani Willis' father was a member of the Black Panthers. She will undoubtedly file indictments for Trump soon. Talk about tilting the playing field and with that crooked Merrick Garland at the DOJ- it's not going to get any better.

Now Attorney General Letitia James; Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis; District Attorney Bragg; and Judge Tanya Chutkan; four Black people. What a coincidence!

Gosh I wonder which party had them all installed. Special thanks to George Soros, the Democrats, Mark Zuckerberg's stealth campaign contributions, and President Obama. The worst part about this week is that we are only half way through. 

Update. FBI swat team performs a tactical operation in Provo on a man who made threats to various officials including Joe Biden. This apparently warranted a no knock warrant and killing the 75 year old obese man with a cane. I saw no Provo PD at the scene. Just the dead guy on the sidewalk covered with a sheet. In my day, I'd probably have detailed two cops to go interview the guy. Dealing with mentally unstable people is something locals cops do every day. The FBI sorts it out another way.

Should the man have threatened to kill officials? Of course not. But killing people for bluster ain't exactly the due process we are guaranteed.

Kind of a Waco meets Ruby Ridge operation. https://nypost.com/2023/08/10/craig-robertson-cared-for-blind-son-before-being-shot-by-fbi-neighbors/

Breaking, Friday. Merrick Garland to FINALLY appoint special counsel to look into Hunter Biden. Fuck oh dear. It will be interesting to see what government, partisan, bootlicker he appoints.

Garland appointed David Weiss from Biden's home state of Delaware. This guy has already been investigating Hunter Biden for years and oddly, has found nothing.

Those 170 suspicious bank activity reports, shell companies, forensic accounting, several witnesses and co-conspirators, hell they even have the guy who made the bribes for Burisma- along with texts and phone calls.

I am glad the week is over.

Living the Mediocre Dream- The Sunday Collage

 Every once in a while, the question of "What would have been your dream job?" comes up. The last time I think- was during a game of trivial pursuit- now almost 20 years ago. 

"A defensive cornerback or safety in the NFL" was always my answer. There were only a few things stopping me from attaining my dream. A commitment or plan to study and work hard, my lack of speed, strength, and leaping ability. Hell, we moved twice during high school. I didn't even play football my junior or senior years.

But I got a taste of greatness. Once. 

So it was, I was relegated to mediocrity. A mediocre college, a mediocre trade school, a mediocre career as a lawman. I was alright with mediocre. In hindsight, I might not have even deserved mediocre.

I had no desire to conquer the world, skim hard working bank accounts like an investment banker. I had no money to buy or develop real estate or pirate the business world with some monopolized invention.

I had no clue what those things even were. Or even where you go to become one of those guys.

Instead, I knew mediocre. I was the son of a farmer, broadcaster, insurance man. My mother stayed home and raised us, back when that was still possible. My friends were the sons of miners. I would grow old with them or so I thought. Drink beer and laugh with them. Hunt with them. Get wrinkled and die with them. I would have been perfectly content.

I handled mediocrity quite well. I only made one mistake which cost me a wife, a house, a truck, and my job. Life it seems, can be quite nasty and unforgiving. But life at 46, was far from over. I would have enough time to bounce back. Mediocrity is always within reach. 

This week I attended a funeral. It was for a man, mid 60's, who had two sons that lived far away. He was depressed, alcoholic, and lived in his mother's basement by himself. He couldn't shake addiction, nor could he find mediocrity. Having tried and failed so many times, he wasn't about to try again. In his mind, he had lost everything. He had lost self-respect. That is a very dangerous place. 

With nobody to love, nothing useful to do, and nothing to look forward to.

The most dangerous person in the world, is the guy who loses everything and checks those 3 boxes. I knew that guy once. Gordon knew that guy, too. 

Most people don't know that guy and I hope you never do. 

I sat and listened to Gordon's service. I listened as everyone spoke kindly of Gordon. Kindness, it seems, is always reserved for the dead. 

I was surrounded by mediocrity at that funeral. No real wealth, no famous entertainers, no investment bankers. Just people trying to live their lives, doing the best that they could, with whatever tools had been bestowed upon them. I was overcome with a sense of gratitude. I was grateful for my simple life. My wife, my family, my house, my cars, my toys. The ability to come and go as I please. Grateful for my history.

I left that funeral feeling sorry for Gordon. Gordon simply couldn't find happiness- even in some mediocre fashion.

There is a very famous coach in Butte named Bill Patrick. The guy made you a winner, he was legend. He died several years ago. Coach Patrick coached football and volleyball for over 50 years. Before he died and during a newspaper interview once, they asked Coach Patrick in all of his decades of coaching, which team was his favorite.

He immediately answered with the 8th grade South Central boys football team, '74. My team. We only played 9 or 10 games a season. We went undefeated. I must have made 20 interceptions that year, ran at least half of them back for touchdowns. I think I had 4 in one game once. I was so proud that Coach Patrick, who has coached professional players, named that team as his favorite.

We moved from Butte that summer and I soon came back to earth in an enormous high school with a wealth of football talent. We moved again, my sophomore year. I was out of sorts with no friends and coaches who didn't seem all that interested in me. Slowly, it seemed, I was being relegated back to my humble beginnings and my mediocre life having had a taste of greatness- just once.

We can't all become doctors, NFL players, celebrities, or billionaires. Nobody will appear with a glossy brochure and ask you what sort of glamorous life you would like. Choose something you love, become good at it, and enjoy your life. 

I have a promising future behind me. I am grateful for that.

A piece of humor, along these lines, courtesy of The Onion.

NEW YORK—Saying that when he looked in the mirror, he no longer saw the man he once deceived himself to be, local man Ron Stockton, 37, told reporters Monday that over the years he had become just a shell of his imagined self. “Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of my [wholly invented] purpose, and the [completely untenable] dreams I had just slipped away,” said Stockton, who added that he worried he was failing to maintain the deep sense of personal integrity he had never actually managed to develop in the first place. “I don’t know what became of that [nonexistent hallucination of a] person I once was, that person who [I thoroughly deluded myself into believing] had so much promise. I honestly don’t understand what happened.” At press time, Stockton reported that he was feeling much better after taking some time to think things over, getting a good night’s sleep, waking up early the next day, and joining a cult.

Bring Back the Sunday Collage!

 Many years ago, I began to focus on writing one good post every week.

Writing is often a trial-and-error event. We write some very good things, and we write some hideously bad things. Thus as our mood changes, the good writing becomes quite apparent to us and the bad writing is also revealed.

I note this on several blogs I read daily and weekly. Some are better than others. But what's obvious to me is that the writers have no ill intent. They are writing not because they are being compensated- they are writing because they love to write. 

So years ago, I wrote the Sunday Collage. The Sunday Collage was a collection of all my thoughts and observations during a week, like snipped pictures or images, that I had collected in my mind. Then I would gather those images and write about them here. 

It was perfect. One well thought out piece of writing each week. 

Once, I had some angry woman comment that I didn't even know what a collage was. Of course, I laughed at that- knowing full well that she was technically correct in many ways and also knowing she did not understand the temporal imagery of why I used the term collage. Thus I did not challenge her comment, although I am quite certain that I lost her as a reader. 

We all possess an ability to discern and feel something. We feel the time machine carry us back when we hear an old song. The pull of a photograph that stops time- for just a moment. We remember how we felt at that moment. That's the good stuff.

I remember how it feels. Now I just have to convey it in a way that matters.

Here then is a piece which I have always loved. From a little over 9 years ago.

https://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/2014/06/melrose-sunday-collage.html

A Sunday Soliloquy- Liberals Worship Words, Not Deeds

 Last week, I read a Mia Farrow tweet which immediately preceded a lightning bolt to my head and an "aha!" moment.

Farrow was bitching about President Trump and the language he uses. According to her, it was so abrasive that she would not allow her children to be in the same room as a TV broadcast featuring Trump.

Not one to simply separate words from a speaker, she went on an anti-Trump rant. That's when I had the "aha!" moment.

She wasn't bitching about low inflation, low gas prices, or a secure border- she was bitching about the language Trump uses.

This is what the democratic party has become. A mob of pussies hell bent on trying to make us use their silly ass pro nouns and words while they topple over our history.

I started applying my newly discovered Mia Farrow "aha" moment to everyone in my life. It was true. Liberals absolutely hate direct speech that they find offensive- because it does not agree with them.  

Conversely, they loved Obama with his cutesy little jokes. They were willing to forgive the fact that Obama refused to prosecute the thousands of fraud committing bankers who donated to his campaign. They were willing to forget the scandals. The deaths of Brian Terry and Christopher Stevens and 3 others- could not possibly be his fault.  

Because you see, Obama uses nice language. All of that collateral damage, well they reason, it was not his fault. He tells cutesy little jokes and reads carefully scripted speeches. 

Obama was in the same vein as Bill Clinton. Clinton did not sell us out to NAFTA or remove the banking laws that have protected us since the Great Depression. He said nice things and chuckled. So he messed around with an intern- we all know that happens. It was ok to get on national TV and lie to everyone- just be sure and do it nicely.

That's why they hate Trump. He uses direct, candid speech. No cute jokes or little smiles. He attacks anyone who attacks him. He gets personal. He calls people names. He tweets mean things. Same with Bush. He said some stupid things. Liberals lashed out at both of those Presidents.

Was it true in my personal life? Did I have the same experiences speaking with liberals? 

Absolutely. In fact, I could find very few exceptions. Liberals do not like to be challenged. They believe they possess the intellectual high ground. They see no merit in anyone that refuses to back down. You are supposed to inhale their words and opinion. Your words, if anything, cause them great angst.

That's why President Trump is hated by the left. It doesn't have fuck all to do with deeds or bringing jobs home or low inflation. They hate his speech. 

Of course, the conservative side loves Trump. We love watching a non career, no lawyer politician who gives us low gas prices, a secure border, a great economy. We love watching him give the middle finger to liberals, the media, and the swamp. We love watching him get his ass kicked, time and time again, and he just gets back up and fights some more.

We want deeds, not words. 

The Good Thief

 "Without God, all things are permissible." -from "The Brothers Karamazov."

Doug and I were brought together by circumstance. We were a couple of lost souls with a willingness to do just about anything. Both of us were sired by alcoholic maniacs, which is to say, our parents were obsessed with their own problems. There was very little energy left for raising children.

So that was our draw. You either get the "Leave it to Beaver" parents or you get ours. I like to think of it as the "birth lottery." A friend calls it the "ovarian lottery."

So you do the best you can. Whining about the birth lottery might explain your unpreparedness for adulthood, but it garners no sympathy.

And so it was that Doug and I stumbled through life and eventually came out on the other side. We very clearly remember our mistakes and we understand now, how it all came to be.

It's not with a fit of rage or jealousy that I examine the perfect lives of others. I am an inquisitor. When I discover the perfect ones, I examine their lives. Not to judge them harshly mind you, but to discover what winning formula was applied.

Time and time again, I saw the same recipe. A kind, religious upbringing. Two loving parents, or perhaps only one, committed wholly to raising the children. A strong sense of morality. A true sense of restraint when uttering critical observations. Empathy for others. Patience, tolerance, and understanding. Some sense of humility and a sincere sense of gratitude. An absence of anger.

I don't remember what philosopher said that in every great culture which eventually disintegrates, the first thing to go is morality. I am a believer. I accept that no destruction of a culture can take place until you remove morality. When people are willing to take a moral stand, en masse, they cannot be broken. They will impose morality upon the others. There will be justice for those who deviate.

I accept this as true. I also accept that our society is breaking down.

So if you want to destroy a culture, you must first destroy Christianity and morality. You must destroy a rule of law, consequences, and justice. You deny moderation. Greed, under the guise of capitalism or materialism, cannot be satiated. People begin to covet vast sums of money, worship and emulate billionaires and become willing to discard any constraint in their own pursuit of material wealth. You must be fearful and lack moral courage. You tolerate poor performance and look the other way. As your leaders demonstrate this lack of morality, the whole thing begins to break down. Your culture is disintegrating. God and morality are inconvenient at first and then completely unnecessary.

I once asked Doug, "Does your father ever regret what he did to your mother?" Doug told me that at the ripe old age of 93, his father is "blissfully unaware."

My journey as well as Doug's journey I suspect- were backwards. We may have been born with a lack of morality but we acquired one. We accept that we made many mistakes, some terrible, and we must reconcile our stupidity, understand it, and never repeat it.

Like St. Dismas, condemned to die with Jesus on that long ago Friday, we accept what we are and what we have done. It took us 60 years, but we get it. We believe in Christ, we ask forgiveness, and understand that we are saved by grace and not by deeds. 

We practice acceptance. We can't stop what's coming.  

The Death of Norman Rockwell's America

This may or may not be an actual quote from Franklin Graham.

 Time is like a river.  You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.  Reverend Franklin Graham was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville , Florida , when he said America will not come back.  He wrote:

“The American dream has ended." The first term of Joe Biden has been the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest republic in the history of mankind.

 A coalition of blacks, Latinos, feminists, gays, government workers, union members, environmental extremists, the media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the “forever needy,” the chronically unemployed that do not want to work, illegal aliens and other “fellow travelers” have ended........Norman Rockwell's America.

You will never again out-vote these people.  It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away.  It will take zealots, not moderates and shy, not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.

People like me are completely, politically irrelevant, and I will probably never again be able to legally comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.

The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch, the pit bull is in the back yard, the American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” and the likes of Chicago shyster David Axelrod along with international socialist George Soros have been pulling the strings on their beige puppet and have brought us Act 2 of the New World Order.

The curtain will come down, but the damage has been done, the story has been told.

Those who come after us will once again have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to white guilt and political correctness.”

The Father of This Blog

 I ran across this clip today after arguing economics and money with some prof and his loyal following on Twitter.

What shocked me was that Milton Friedman used the term Frankenstein Government long before I ever saw this clip.

Indeed.